Multi-speed drive mechanisms



Sept. 29, 1959 J. QMARINO MULTI-SPEED DRIVE MECHANISMS 3 sheets sheet Filed March 31, 1958 FIG.1.

Sept. 29, 1959 J. MARINC) MULTI-SPEED DRIVE MECHANISMS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 31, 1958 FIG. 3.

FIG. 4.

@ZMapz/no Sept. 29, 1959 J. MARING MULTI-SPEED DRIVE MECHANISMS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed March 31, 1958 FIG. 5.

FIG.6.

lZL' van-top QIMLLFL" MULTr-SPEED leau'Mai-ino, Chatou', France," assignor to Les IndiJstris Musicales et Electriquej's 'PatheM'arc'oni, ParisgFrance, a. corporation of France A Application -Ma'rch 31 1958; Serial :No. #25142 1 Claims priority, application France April 19;1557 11 Claims. c1. 74-190 7 This inventionlr'elates tomultispeed driv=mechanisms which. are pi ticularlygalthbl gh.Tnotj'eirclusively;vYappliv cableioriuselinlgrarriophone',record;playing{a aratus.

1 Multiespeedrdrivernechanisins em myed'," v gramophonef record "playing apparatus usually' "cemprise a inotor'l-thenspindle ofl'which' s ppqms a.' stpped', dr'iving wheelthe steps of jwhichT are capabl oijbeingfjengaged selectively by a cou'p'l-ing' ,wheel Y which engages 1:116" ofrrthe-iturntableof tthce apparatusand so drives ,saidttiirntable at one of a'iriuiribe'r oftd'esir'edlspe'eds,"forIeiiainple v78, f 45 33 /3, and 16 7a ,7 revolutionsf per gminiitej Usually such mechanisms'; which" include iilean's ,io r; causing'kthe coupling] wheel; selectively, to engage the; steps of the driving ,iwheel, 'cornprisefan measurably large number of l smear-muchiareirqtiena anaemia such" mechanisms usuallywin'corp J very, accurately flde' signed 'andi mounted Tandffurtlie'rg'constitute n und esir'ablyfl'large bulk beneath: 'the' turntable. 'Ihelobject ol the resenrinvnuo isfto pi'bilidflan improved 1 and. [simplified rniiltiespeed drive" mechanism and according mime presentinvntion'there is provided a r'nulti-speed drive' ,;mchanisrni comprising; a' "stepped Jdriv'ing wheeh'ar'rang'edjtobe driven; a 'jcouplingwwheel adapted to, be, lbroiig ht into' drivenrengig hientl selectively I with,the steps,of. said'd'riving wheelQandwith a. driven element, whereby :said element'can'b ciriva'iT at lu- Vrality o f. different speeds according to which ,"steps driving Wheel: is; selectbdgand a v ngl fiat:carri,lc6upled to said. coupling" wheelfwhe rjeby -f displacement 'of I Said cam imparts, displacement I to.,said ,c 'oupling wheel in" directions substantially.parallel; to and perpndiciilar to the axis or said *aiivingg'wheei,

i It is arranged'fha' no 'rmallygsaid' vc ou ling 'whel is iheld in driven engagement wi 'isaicldrivrngIwheel;.-anddis- 'placernenfof saidicam "mparts disp1aeemenr;mj. said couplinglj wheel which" ubst'aiit'ially. perpendicular I to the axis' 'oflsaidjdriv' g 'heelffsol'asito, decouple, said coupling livheelifrom isaid imin wheel; ad isplaceirint to said. coupling Iwh cel iparallel to said a xis t6 bring Said coupli g rwhecl into line with the selectedj ste pnoftihe driving' wheel and 'a. .dis1 Ia.enint in theldirec'tionfopposite, minaret the; mentioned. displacement to re turn saidf coupling; wheel, Tinto rdriven-iengag enientgwith said; selected step. A. In a fpreferredlemb dinientfofj'the invention ic-the; second. mentioned displacement E is.. .con1- menced after cornmencerrientfoflthe first-mentioned displacement ancl is ceased prior .to cessation o'fjthefthird mentioned displacement Said 'first' :andjihird; nientioned displacements. being fefi'cted successively.

I. Preferably the cam and. means for,,coup1 ing Q saidf. cam

l to the coupling wheel laremounted on a common su p,

,port with a {Imotondrivingt said jdrivenfelenient,i f in" an ,anti vib'ratoryri lflnner relatively? tof, said; Hrivenflelem'e nt. I :Mor'eovefl translation of; :said cam is convenintlylfarranged "to be pivotal movement {about an" i lperpem arranged "to co-operate with tw o pins, one of which dei ed States aterit O crate a .number'ofl'ca'm's which have, toQbe "i re 2 terminesithe; displacement of the coupling wheel in the "-direction parallel to the axis ofthe driving wheel and a the otherof vwhich determines-the displacement of the v couplingwheel in a direction substantially perpendicular 5' to saidtaxi s.

In-order that the. present invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect, it will now be more fullydescribed with reference to the accompanying drawings, inIWhich: -;;Figure 1 is aschematicperspective;representation of V- a .multi-speed drive, mechanism. in accordance with an embodimentofthe invention, apart of said mechanism :being removed, g

Figure 2 is a view in elevation of apractical embodin1ent ofthe invention, I

, Figure 3 is a plan ,view of themechanism of Figure 2, a -i;-;Figure 4 is aflsectional view oft-the mechanism taken .l;along the line AA of Figure 3, p

Figure 5 is a view in elevation of the mechanism when ossaid mechanism is in the process of changing from one 'cs peed toanother speed, and g v Figure 6 is -aplan viewl'ofthe mechanism in the posi- :tion.. shown in Figure 5.

Referring to the drawingsathe, invention is shown by way; of example as appliecl'to gramophone' record playing ,Japparatus. a Thegniulti-speed drive mechanism comprises a motor l rnountedon a platezl'ike support 2said motor lihaving aavspiri dle .3fwhich supports a-stepped driving wheel I 4icon1pri'sing ,threeisteps. aA peripheral-surface 5 of a Q. 5 L ingwheel6 is-mounted-so as to be capable of being r Qbroughtinto;contact selectively with said three steps and ftheispindle 3 whilst/at the same time a second peripheral Qs u'iface 7= can be brought into contact with the rim 8 fi theflzturntable 9. of-the apparatus. The diameters of 5 lthef" hree ..-st eps of. the driving wheel 4 are so arranged lthatijwhen coupled to the turntable ,9 :via the coupling wheel 6,they drive said turntable fat'78, and 33 /3 vohitionsiiper minute respectively whilst saidf turntable I isfdriven at 16%, revolutions per minute when said T o up'lingiwheel is coupled to l. the spindle 3. I

'Ihecjturntable 9 is rotatablywmounted on a spindle lUsLippEirted'Ion a baseplate (not jshown) of the apparatus ffon'wh'ichbase plate mounted the support 2 via an t tivibratory coupling. The Tantivibratory coupling can '..coni /eniently comprisebo lts 10 connecting said base plate ..to' 'said support 2,,flexiblebearings 11--being disposed be- -Itw eenisaidplate and support 2.

Theicoupling wheel 6 is caused selectively to engage if epslof the driving wheel landthespihdle 3 in the .iher'ein after referred to. Asshown a shaft 12 p ided supported. atone "end by the support 2 and d'spos ed withgits axis parallel to the'a-xis'of. said driving 1,wheel.4. A plate.13 .has two arms 14 projecting perpentdicularlyf'therefrom, said arms 14 being provided with ljap erturesilo'osely accommodating the shaft 12 whereby :saidplate'13 and armsl 14 are'capable of movement axially Leann/fay to. said shaft '12. I Also mounted on the shaft {lz'betweenthe arms 14 is a lever v15 having two arms 1-116fand 17f inclined at an angle to each other,-said lever "15 being slidably mounted on the shaft 12 as shown. The, width of' the lever" 15' is arranged substantially to equalithe separation between the arms 14 of the plate 13 ilvvher'eby said axial movement of said; plate 13 causes corfresponding' "'akial movement ofs aid lever 15. The end 1I ofthe arm'16 remote from the shaft12 supports therein P spindle 18 on which is mounted an arm 19 which carnes alspindle .20 on whichthe coupling wheel 6 rotates. I .Theilspindle v18 is arranged to be pivotally supported with @Yrespectfto the arm 16 of leverv 15 .sothatthe coupling i wh eelo iis capable of pivotal'movement aboutthe axis of said spindle 18. The amplitude of said pivotaltrnovenint is controlled by the provision of projecting lugs 21 on the arm 16 against which a tongue 22 of the arm 19 abuts. Alternatively said lugs 21 may, as shown in Figures 3 and 6 be provided on the arm 19, the tongue 22 being provided at the end of the arm 16.

A return spring 23 is provided, said spring 23 having two arms one of which presses against the plate 13 and the other of which presses against the arm 16 of the lever 15. The effect of the spring 23, the arms of which are forced apart by the tension in said spring 23 is to tend to rotate the lever 15 in a counter-clockwise direction about the shaft 12 so that the peripheral surface of the coupling wheel 6 is held in driven engagement with one of the steps of the driving wheel 4 or with the spindle 3.

On the support 2 and substantially parallel thereto is slidably mounted a plate 24 normally urged towards the left hand side of Figures 1, 2 and 3 by means of a tension spring 24a. The plate 24 is provided with a slot 25 to accommodate the shaft 12, a second slot 26, shown only in Figure 3, which accommodates a guide pin 27, and an arm 28 projecting substantially at right angles to the plate 24 in such a position as to be capable of abutting against the end of the arm 17 of the lever 15 remote from the shaft 12.

In order to control the means for selectively rotating the turntable 9 at different speeds described above there is provided a flat cam 29 which may be constructed by being stamped or cut out of sheet material. The cam 29 is pivotally mounted on a spindle 30 which is supported by a flange 31 of the support 2 whereby the spindle 30 is disposed substantially parallel to said support 2. The axis of the spindle 30 is therefore perpendicular to the axis of the shaft 12, and said axes are arranged to lie in a common plane. The plate 13 has mounted thereon a pin 32 arranged to engage in a cam slot 33 in said cam 29 such that rotation of said cam 29 causes vertical movement of said plate 13, adjacent surfaces of the plate 13 and cam 29 being arranged to be in sliding contact with each other. The axis of the pin 32 is arranged to lie in the same plane as the axes of the shaft 12 and spindle 30, and furthermore the direction of movement of the plate 24 is parallel to the plane of the cam 29.

The cam slot 33 follows a path eccentrically disposed with respect to the spindle 30 and comprising four portions which are preferably arranged to be convex relatively to the axis of the cam 29 as shown in Figures 2 and 5 in order to reduce friction between the pin 32 and the edges of said cam slot 33 as much as possible. The cam 29 is coupled to the slidable plate 24 by a coupling lever 34 pivotally mounted on a spindle 35 supported by the flange 31. The lever 34 engages a shoulder 36, as shown in Figure 1 or in a groove 36 as shown in Figure 6, of the slidable plate 24 and carries a pin 37 which abuts against the periphery 38 of the cam 29. Said periphery 38 of the cam 29 is arranged to be of undulating form, having in the present embodiment five identations, the dells 38a of which are preferably equidistant from the axis of the cam 29 and which are suitably disposed relatively to the slot 33 for the purpose hereinafter described. The pin 37 is held in contact with the periphery 38 of the cam 29 by the action of the tension spring 24a on the slidable plate 24. A rod 39 is mounted eccentrically on the cam 29 and is employed to rotate said cam 29 to operate the mechanism described, by being provided with an actuating lever or a knob, for example.

In operation of the mechanism described when the cam 29 is rotated the pin 32 is caused by its engagement in the eccentric slot 33 to move in the directions indicated by the arrows FF thereby moving the plate 13 and lever 15 vertically. Hence the coupling wheel 6 is moved vertically and so can be brought into line with a selected one of the steps of the driving wheel 4 or the spindle 3. Furthermore when said cam 29 is rotated the pin 37 moves in the directions gg' by reason of the undulating periphery 24 to move in the direction K against the tension in the springs 24a. When the pin 37 moves in the direction g the pressure of the lever 34 on the shoulder 36 is released and the tension in the spring 24a therefore causes the plate 24 to move in the direction K. When the plate 24 moves in the direction K the arm 28 abuts against the arm 17 of lever 15 and rotates said lever 15 in a clockwise direction thereby causing the coupling wheel 6 to be moved out of driven engagement with the driving wheel 4 on spindle 3, that is in the direction S. When the plate 24 moves in the direction K, however, the pressure of the arm 28 on the arm 17 is released and the tension in the spring 23 rotates the lever 15 in a counterclockwise direction to move the coupling wheel 6 into driven engagement with the driving wheel 4 or spindle 3, that is in the direction S.

Commencing from the position shown in Figure 2, when the cam 29 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction the pin 37 is moved from the dell 38a in which it is shown in Figure 2 towards the next adjacent dell 38a so that initially said pin 37 and the lever 34 are moved in the direction g. This moves the slidable plate 24 in the direction K against the pressure of the spring 24a so that the arm 28 abuts against the arm 17 of lever 15 and rotates said lever in a clockwise direction. The arm 19 and coupling wheel 6 are consequently caused to pivot in the direction S so as to be moved out of contact with the stepped drive wheel 4. Whilst the pin 37 moves from one dell 38a to the adjacent dell 38a it is arranged that the pin 32 moves along one portion of the slot 33. Thus said pin 32 is caused to move in the direction F whereby the guard plate 13 and lever 15 are likewise moved in the direction F. Hence the coupling wheel 6 is moved upwardly in the vertical direction until it is aligned with the next adjacent step of the driving wheel 4. It is arranged that when said coupling wheel is so aligned the pin 37 approaches the next indentation of the pe riphery 38 so that said pin 37 and the lever 34 are moved in the direction g, the plate 24 is moved in the direction K by the tension spring 24a and so the pressure of the arm 28 on the arm 17 is released. Hence the spring 23 causes the lever 15 to rotate in the anticlockwise direction, whereby the arm 19 pivots in the direction S, and the coupling wheel 6 is moved into engagement with the stepped driving wheel.

It will be understood that rotation of the cam 29 from .the position in which pin 37 resides in one dell 38a of the periphery 38 to the next dell 38a causes the coupling wheel 6 to be pivoted first in the direction S and then in the direction S whilst said coupling wheel 6 is moved vertically to be aligned with the next step of the driving wheel 4. Thus if the speed at which the turntable 9 is rotated is changed from the lowest speed, say, to the highest speed the change is made by causing the coupling wheel 6 to engage each step of the driving wheel 4 sequentially until the required step is engaged.

It is preferred that vertical movement of the coupling wheel 6 is not commenced until after said wheel has commenced to be rotated in the direction S and so is out of contact with the stepped driving wheel 4, and likewise vertical movement of said wheel 6 ceases before rotation in the direction S ceases. Hence damage to the driving wheel 4 and/or to the coupling wheel 6 is substantially prevented. For this purpose the four portions of the slot 33 are terminated by arcuate portions having a common centre at the axis of the spindle 30, so that the pin 32 is located in such an arcuate portion when the pin 37 is located in a dell 38a of the periphery 38. Thus since whilst the pin 37 follows said arcuate portions said pin remains stationary, movement of the coupling wheel 6 in the direction S is commenced prior to'the commencement of vertical movement of said wheel 6 and likewise said vertical movement ceases prior to cessation of the 38 of said cam 29. When pin 37 moves in the direction movement of said wheel 6 in the direction S.

Figures 5 and 6 show the mechanism in a position in which the pin 37 engages a protuberance of the periphery 38.

It will be appreciated that variations in the design and nature of the mechanical components in the mechanism may be made whilst not departing from the essence of the invention. For example the periphery 38 of the cam 29 could be arranged to engage the shoulder or groove 36 directly without the provision of the intermediate lever 34 and pin 37.

What I claim is:

l. A multi-speed drive mechanism comprising a stepped driving wheel, a coupling wheel, a single flat cam angularly movable about an axis, and having first and second camming surfaces, a first coupling between said first camming surface and said coupling wheel whereby said coupling wheel is displaced in directions substantially parallel to the axis of said driving wheel when said cam is angularly moved about its axis, and a second coupling between said second camming surface and said coupling wheel whereby said coupling wheel is displaced in directions substantially perpendicular to the axis of said driving wheel when said cam is angularly moved about its axis, whereby said coupling wheel is brought selectively into driven engagement with the steps of said driving wheel.

2. Mechanism according to claim 1 wherein said first camming surface is formed by a slot in the surface of said cam, and said second camming surface is the periphery of said cam.

3. Mechanism according to claim 2 wherein said slot follows a path eccentrically disposed with respect to the axis of angular movement of said cam, and said slot comprises a plurality of portions corresponding in number to the number of steps of said driving wheel.

4. Mechanism according to claim 3 wherein said slot portions are terminated by arcuate portions having a common centre at the axis of said cam.

5. Mechanism according to claim 2 wherein said periphery of said cam is of undulating form.

6. Mechanism according to claim 1 comprising a fixed shaft, the axis of which is parallel to the axis of said driving wheel, and a lever carrying said coupling wheel and mounted for axial and pivotal movement relatively to said shaft.

7. Mechanism according to claim 6 comprising a member mounted for axial movement relatively to said shaft, :1 pin carried by said member and co-operating with said first camming surface, for imparting said axial movement to said lever.

8. Mechanism according to claim 7 in which the axis of said pin and the axis of said cam are parallel to each other and are perpendicular to the axis of said shaft and the three mentioned axes lie in a common plane.

9. Mechanism according to claim 6 comprising a slidably mounted plate spring urged in a first direction and having an arm for moving said lever pivotally in one direction relatively to said shaft when said plate slides in the reverse direction to said first direction, and a coupling between said slidably mounted plate and said second camming surface, and a spring urging said lever for pivotal movement in the reverse direction to said one direction relatively to said shaft.

10. Mechanism according to claim 9 comprising a coupling lever engaging said slidably mounted plate and a pin carried by said coupling lever and co-operating with said camming surface.

11. Mechanism according to claim 9 in which the spring urging said lever for pivotal movement in the reverse direction to said one direction relatively to said shaft tends to hold said coupling wheel in driven engagement with said driving wheel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,386,503 Pressley Oct. 9, 1945 2,438,265 Metzner Mar. 23, 1948 2,603,977 Cain July 22, 1952 2,655,812 Morrison Oct. 20, 1953 2,788,669 Richards Apr. 16, 1957 2,795,961 Brown June 18, 1957 2,801,546 Scheller et al. Aug. 6, 1957 2,826,926 Singer Mar. 18, 1958 OTHER REFERENCES Product Engineering, January 1950, volume 21, issue No. 1. 

